''WE ARE READY TO PRICE THE TICKETS AT RS 40 TO 50''

The film exhibitors from Tamil Nadu had an intense meeting in Chennai today, 20th July. In fact, there are speculations saying that the exhibitors might call in for another state level theatre strike. To know about the happenings, we decided to dig deep.

Here is what Nikilesh Surya, Executive Director of Rohini cinemas tells us, "The next round of meetings between the film fraternity and the government will happen on the 24th. So, before the meeting, we wanted to be clear with our stand, that is the main purpose of today's meeting."

What are the demands you are going to put forth?

1. Flexible ticket pricing - "We would want to price films based on its demand and budget. For a small budget film, we are ready to price the tickets at Rs 40 to 50 during weekdays and Rs 100 on weekends. Similarly, we would like to have an adjustable price structure for a big hero’s film too."

2. Entertainment tax to be completely waived off - "Out of the 28% GST we are paying, 14% of it goes to the state government. Why should the government penalize us even further by imposing Entertainment Tax? So we want the Entertainment Tax to be removed completely."

3. Will you go for another strike if things don't go your way?

"In an extreme case, we might have to do that, but we hope things don't go to that stage. We know the consequences of many families who are dependent on films if we go on a strike”.